Adrian commission’s decision about medical marijuana coming soon

ADRIAN — The next few weeks may prove critical in answering questions about medical marijuana facilities in the city of Adrian.

Should the city move forward in the coming weeks and approve a regulatory ordinance to allow medical marijuana facilities? Or, should it wait until the planning commission has time to sort out a potential zoning ordinance to go along with the regulatory ordinance, which would delay the decision until the new year?

Or, should it vote down an ordinance and not allow the facilities?

These are some of the questions facing the Adrian City Commission as Dec. 15 approaches. The 15th is the first day that applications can be submitted to the state of Michigan by those wanting to establish a medical marijuana facility in municipalities allowing these uses. It appears at this point the city commission is leaning toward allowing medical marijuana facilities.

“We’ve been waiting a long time and there are — medical marijuana —patients in this community that have been waiting a long time,” city commissioner Allen Heldt said about making a final decision. “I feel that it’s still a compassion thing and we’ve been dragging our feet, in my opinion, on this whole issue.”

Heldt said they’ve had a lot of discussions on the matter and he thinks the city needs to be realistic about it; noting a vote on recreational marijuana could be coming in the new year.

“It’s going to be on the ballot. If anybody thinks it’s not going to pass, I mean, I’m not Nostradamus, but it’s going to pass,” Heldt said. “So why not get out in front of it, zone it and have the planning commission get together to as a group and figure out where we are going to put these facilities, and move forward. I see no reason to wait.”

The city commission consensus is to potentially have a special meeting next week to have the first reading of a regulatory ordinance.

City attorney Sarah Osburn presented a draft of the regulatory ordinance to the city commission on Monday, and said she was seeking feedback during the meeting and before the next one. She said there were some areas in the ordinance language that was still up for debate. These include the number of facilities that would be allowed.

“This ordinance is in draft form right now,” Osburn said Monday during the premeeting. “We also need guidance on timing and we’re going to talk a little bit more I think about that. How would we like to go forward from here? Would we do it in conjunction with the zoning ordinance? If we do that there’s going to be a delay because the planning commission would need to discuss it in December and then it would be up for a public hearing at the January meeting, and then would go to the city commission after that.”

Another part of the medical marijuana discussion Monday gave some insight into the thinking of the special committee formed by the city to explore medical marijuana facility regulations and zoning. At this point, the committee is putting forth the ideas of establishing at least two overlay districts that would permit facilities for growing, processing, testing, provisioning and transportation. One location being proposed to have a overlay district would be at the southeast corner of Sand Creek Highway and West Beecher Road.

In addition, the committee is proposing potential zoning to allow provisioning centers or dispensaries near the Adrian Mall.

However, it should be noted the overlays and other zoning proposals by the committee are just ideas at this point and still need the full attention of the planning commission, and a final decision from the city commission.

Osburn said moving forward quickly is not the most ideal way. However, she said the city could approve a regulatory ordinance before the zoning ordinance.

City commissioner Devin Stevens said his concern about delaying a decision is it could mean Adrian may miss out on some big investors, who want to establish a medical marijuana business or facility in the city. He said he worries the potential for new jobs and investment that could come with these big investment facilities may go to another community as the investors seek out other opportunities rather than wait on the city to make a decision.

City commissioner Brad Watson said if the city does move forward quickly he still has some questions and concerns. One is with the potential odor from these facilities and how this would be measured, controlled and enforced.

Another part of moving forward quickly involves MSC3, which is currently the only medical marijuana resource center for Lenawee County and is in Adrian. MSC3 owner Nicole Hernandez said the fifteenth is the day the application portal for commercial licensing opens and it is also the deadline in which the cities/municipalities have to authorize existing businesses, per the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, if they haven’t already done so.

“Otherwise, it would impede the applicant’s eligibility for state licensure if the business is operating in a municipality that has not passed ordinances allowing them to continue to do so past Dec. 15,” Hernandez said.

She said technically this doesn’t mean anything to anyone/business “starting off” and pertains only to existing businesses. She said businesses “starting out” would just have to fill out the state application and wait for approval. However, she said they would have to wait to receive licensing before being able to operate.

“Existing businesses are the ones being given the opportunity, via the Department of LARA, to continue operating if the municipality in which they are located in authorizes, not only the commercial businesses to be located within their municipality, but also authorizes the existing business to continue to operate temporarily while awaiting their approval/license from the state,” she said

It’s expected Osburn will present a more refined regulatory ordinance at the special meeting next week, which has not been officially scheduled yet.

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